New "Mom Van!"

Last night Dylan took Patience to swim practice for us, which was great because Don was working offsite and it meant that I didn't have to take all the Littles! On the way there, he turned on the windshield wipers and KAPUT! They got all tangled up in each other and one wiper completely fell off.

We had problems with the wipers before...it's apparently a problem with that model minivan because the wipers are so long and they have to weave in between each other perfectly or everything gets messed up. We spent a couple hundred dollars at the beginning of the year replacing part of the wipers, but our mechanic told us it might be a short-term fix, and that if we had to replace the engine part of the wipers, it would be much more expensive. Like almost $1000.

So, last night we had to decide whether we wanted to pour $1000 into an 11-year-old van or bite the bullet and upgrade. We decided it made more sense to upgrade : )

Don found a dealership in Maple Ridge who was running a trade-in special. They were willing to give us $3000 for our van despite any and all problems. I think it would have been difficult to sell given its mechanical woes. Don went to the dealership this morning and found this beauty: a 2005 Dodge Caravan with low km's and of course he was able to get a price that fit in our budget. And floor mats. And "clicker" keys.

So, I loaded up the Littles after lunch and drove over our new bridge to the dealership, just in time to sign all the papers and drive my new (to me) van home.

Our new van in the foreground, old van in the background.

The girls, thrilled at the DVD player they can see from the backseat!

The new van, happy at home...